Updates(2)

Story

To provide loans to six women to grow their livestock businesses and improve their lives and those of their families.

WHO ARE MILAAP?:
Milaap partners with organisations in India to provide repayable loans to the working poor, which are used to permanently improve their lives. Please spend some time on this website and call/ email me with any questions that you may have.

MY EXPERIENCE:
Chris supports them regularly through his cafe and knows the Singapore team well. I first heard of them in 2011 and was struck by their transparency and accountability. I have been providing loans through Milaap for 2 years and have had a 100% repayment rate, which is also the repayment rate that Milaap has experienced in the 5 years they have been operating.

Please note that these are interest-free, high risk loans (as they are unsecured) and that the borrowers pay interest (a fraction of what they would be charged by conventional lenders in India) which is how the field partners are reimbursed. I view this as a donation as I keep re-lending the repaid amount- this is a sustainable process.

WHAT ARE WE FUNDRAISING FOR:
This particular Milaap campaign (The Hope Project 2014) focuses on survivors of the illegal Devadasi system. This is a historic practice where impoverished and low-caste families dedicated their daughters (as young as 5) to serve in temples, it was intended that they would lead a celibate life in religious devotion and would be respected and protected. The reality is that they were abused and forced in to prostitution and there is a strong social stigma attached to any former victims/ escapees and their children. Though the practice was outlawed in the 1980s, an estimated 250,000 girls are still in this system along the border of the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka.

THE PROCESS:
Please lend USD 75 or more! to this campaign. Once we have reached the target Milaap will provide this loan to Yallavva Harijan's group and Krishnabi Talawar's group. They will do this via their field partner MASS. Over the next 12 - 18 months these women will repay the loan. Please lend as much as you feel comfortable, but there is no limit i.e. when we have reached USD 1,000 we will add more borrowers. There are many, many groups wanting to start new businesses to earn an income,

WHY THEY NEED THIS:
- Their is a stigma attached to ex-Devadasi women excludes them from employment.
- They have managed to escape from a forced sex trade where they received little to no education.
- Many have children and are the only breadwinners.
- They are determined that their children will be educated and not suffer similar fates.